Trials Coming to World Magic Cup Qualifiers

Wizards of the CoastFriday, June 06, 2014

ant to earn a one-round bye at your World Magic Cup Qualifier? Win a World Magic Cup Qualifier Trial and you'll be one win closer to representing your country at the World Magic Cup!

World Magic Cup Qualifier Trials will be run on the day before World Magic Cup Qualifiers. Find a WMCQ near you and contact your local organizer for specific schedule information. Trials will be single-elimination Standard-format events with a minimum of sixteen players per event, and no more than ten trials may be run for each WMCQ. The winner of a trial receives an invitation to the World Magic Cup Qualifier running that weekend and a one-round bye at that event. If the winner is already invited to the WMCQ, he or she still receives the one-round bye. Other prizes will be awarded at the organizer's discretion.

Find a WMCQ Near You!

Byes have long been part of the Grand Prix experience and have now been added to World Magic Cup Qualifiers based on feedback we received from stores and players. Since all WMCQs are one-day events with a maximum of ten rounds, that makes the value of a one-round bye very significant.

As previously announced, Platinum-level members in the Pro Players Club will receive two-round byes for each World Magic Cup Qualifier. Gold-level members in the Pro Players Club and Hall of Famers will receive a one-round bye at each WMCQ. Adding byes to Pro Players Club and Hall of Fame benefits fits with the vision of the those programs, but we also wanted to ensure that anyone could earn a bye. By also attaching an invitation to the WMCQ as a benefit for winning a trial, that gives players who came up short on earning an invitation via Planeswalker Points a last chance to earn a seat at the WMCQ.

World Magic Cup Qualifiers will be held on three weekends in late summer: August 16–17, August 30–31, and September 13–14. There are no Grand Prix being run on any of those weekends, so players around the world won't have to choose between playing in a WMCQ or a Grand Prix. A record 72 countries will run World Magic Cup Qualifiers this year:

The winner of each WMCQ will receive an invitation and airfare to compete on his or her country's national team at the 2014 World Magic Cup. All WMCQ participants will receive one Geist of Saint Traft promo card (while supplies last) and the Top 8 competitors will receive an exclusive World Magic Cup Qualifier Top 8 playmat.

The World Magic Cup is held December 5–7, 2014 in Nice, France. To expand the connection between top World Magic Cup finishing teams and the Pro Tour, the Top 8 teams from the World Magic Cup will now earn invitations to Pro Tour "Dewey" in early 2015.